Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Pornography: Internet

Baroness Grender: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Barran on 24 March (HL14223), what assessment they have made of (1) the percentage of commercial pornography sites, and (2) the total number of commercial pornography sites, that will not be in scope of the Online Safety Bill.

Baroness Barran: The government is committed to ensuring children are protected from accessing online pornography through the new online safety framework. Where pornography sites host user-generated content or facilitate online user interaction such as video and image sharing, commenting and live streaming, they will be subject to the new duty of care.The government expects that the majority of commercial pornography sites, including those that are most visited, will be captured through the new online safety regime. Only those commercial pornography sites which do not host user-generated content and instead publish their own content will not be in scope. We will continue to review our proposals to ensure we deliver the most comprehensive protections for children online.

Department of Health and Social Care

Joint Committee On Vaccination and Immunisation

Lord Mendelsohn: To ask Her Majesty's Government which organisation provides the secretariat for the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation; and what processes were undertaken in (1) selecting, and (2) appointing, this organisation.

Lord Mendelsohn: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Deputy Chief Medical Officers have any formal role in relation to the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation; and if so, what are the roles.

Lord Mendelsohn: To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the budget of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation for each of the last three years for which figures are available.

Lord Mendelsohn: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation is able to commission specific research to inform its considerations; and if so, what specific research has it commissioned since 1 January 2020 regarding the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines.

Lord Mendelsohn: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the expertise of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation in its ability to address issues relating to COVID-19 vaccines and immunosuppressed people.

Lord Mendelsohn: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether any members of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation have a specialism in haematology.

Lord Bethell: The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) secretariat is provided by Public Health England (PHE), as set out in the JCVI Code of Practice agreed by the Department. In 2013 the Secretariat was transferred to PHE from the Department as part of the Health and Social Care Act 2012. Membership is determined on merit and in accordance with the principles of the Code of Practice for Scientific Advisory Committees and the Code of Practice issued by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. The Chair and members are appointed based on their suitability for the role through fair and open competition and assessed against specified criteria. The Deputy Chief Medical Officer Professor Jonathan Van Tam is a medical adviser to the JCVI but is not a member of the Committee.The JCVI has no budget. Members are not remunerated. However, they are eligible to claim expenses in accordance with PHE’s rules for travel, subsistence and overnight accommodation. The JCVI’s members will not gain financial benefit from their membership. The JCVI cannot commission research but does identify gaps where additional research would be helpful in informing their decision making.The JCVI’s members have a wide range of specialisms, including vaccinology, immunology, paediatrics, adult medicine, respiratory medicine, geriatric medicine, infectious diseases, epidemiology, virology, public health, mathematical modelling, health economics, general practice and health care associated infections. The United Kingdom health departments agreed to take advice from the JCVI on vaccinations and immunisations as the expert body. The JCVI does not have a haematologist member.The JCVI’s COVID-19 sub-committee may, in the course of its work, invite experts in certain specialisms not represented in the membership to attend and contribute to meetings, including experts in haematology. The JCVI works closely with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the Commission on Human Medicines, who have an expert working group that includes invited experts in haematology.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Lord Hay of Ballyore: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that those designated as clinically extremely vulnerable do not have to travel more than 115 miles to receive their COVID-19 vaccine.

Lord Bethell: In England, more than 98% of the population are currently within 10 miles of a vaccine site. Many of those who are designated as clinically extremely vulnerable are able to receive their vaccines at these sites. This is informed by advice from their general practitioner and community teams and agreement with their family and/or carer to facilitate this process.In a small number of highly rural areas, vaccines are provided by mobile units and those who are housebound or in a nursing home would receive their vaccines from roving vaccination teams.

Social Services: Reorganisation

Lord Watson of Invergowrie: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many local authorities in England have combined their adult social services and children's social services under one director.

Lord Bethell: The information requested is not held centrally.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to promote a global vaccine passport scheme.

Lord Bethell: The Government committed to explore whether and how COVID-19 status certification might be used to reopen the economy, reduce restrictions on social contact and improve safety. COVID-19 status certification aims to provide reassurance that an individual is at reduced risk of transmission. This could allow some freedoms to be restored more safely, for example by allowing mass events to admit more participants, increased passenger numbers and reduced border restrictions for travellers and social distancing rules to be relaxed. The Government believes that COVID-19 status certification could have an important role to play both domestically and internationally, as a temporary measure. Equally, we want to be sure that the benefits of any such approach is rigorously tested, along with analysis of the potential economic impacts that COVID-status certification would have across different settings. We will continue to gather evidence on the extent to which COVID-19 status certification is an effective measure to control the epidemic and reduce hospitalisations and deaths and continue to explore the equity and ethical concerns. The Government will set out its conclusions from the COVID-status certification review in advance of 21 June in order to inform the safe reopening of society and the economy.

Department for International Trade

Trade Promotion

Lord Balfe: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to appoint trade envoys for (1) Mongolia, (2) Uzbekistan, (3) Kazakhstan, (4) Kyrgyzstan, (5) Tajikistan, and (6) Afghanistan;if so, when those envoys will be appointed; and what is the process by which they (a) select, and (b) appoint, such envoys.

Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: My noble Friend Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne was appointed Trade Envoy in July 2017 to Kazakhstan and in October 2020 the Hon. Member for Shrewsbury and Atcham, Daniel Kawczynski, was appointed Trade Envoy to Mongolia. There are no plans to appoint a Trade Envoy to Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan or Afghanistan. My Rt Hon. Friend the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoys are drawn from both Houses and across the political spectrum. They are chosen based on relevant skills and experience required to undertake the role. This experience can be related to their assigned market or UK industry knowledge, or their Government-to-Government experience, as well as willingness and an ability to undertake some international travel. Trade Envoys are appointed by the Prime Minister, usually following a recommendation by my Rt Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade.